thumbs up, thumbs down 3/3/01

Thumbs up, thumbs down 3/3

To Betty Lou Breeden, for writing - and publishing - a book about the rescue of her daughter, Toni Tracey Wetzel, and donating the proceeds to the Boonsboro Ambulance squad.

To the Maryland House of Delegates, for passing a bill to increase Washington County marriage license fees form $60 to $65, with the increase going to Citizens Assisting and Sheltering the Abused, a local group aiding battered women.

To the Pen Mar Development Corp. for filing suit against the Role Models America school for installing new flag poles at old Fort Ritchie. Aren't there usually flag poles at an army base?

Advertisement

To a Pensacola, Fla., police officer who left a soon-to-be -junked cruiser in a church parking lot as a deterrent against crime. A good idea, except that people began noticing that it had been in same parking spot for two years.

To a Pensacola, Fla., high school teacher who had a chemistry student charged with wire-tapping because she taped a lecture without his consent. The worst thing: It actually went to trial!

To Maryland's Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee, which killed a bill to increase the fine for allow their homes to become a nuisance, withgarbage piled inside, animal feces on the floor. Live next to such a place and you'll change your tune.

To Hagerstown's Winter Street Elementary School, the only Maryland school to win an Exemplary Reading Program Award, a prize given to recognize outstanding teaching programs.

To the Maryland State Senate, for defeating a bill to allow Maryland motorcyclists to choose to ride without a helmet. When the bill says taxpayers won't have to pay thousands of dollars for any head injuries that result, we'll back repeal.

To the State of Maryland, for awarding Hagerstown's HotSpots program $1 million in low-interest mortgage money. To build neighborhoods, we need homeowners who'll fight for them.

To Community Rescue Service, for seeking the same funding help for their Maugansville substation as Boonsboro Ambulance received for its Rohrersville substation. As Commissioner Paul Swartz said, if you don't ask, you get nothing.